Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Meeting with teacher re: grade acceleration

Just need to post for a confidence boost. My DS5 is currently in Kindergarten and we are asking the school to skip him to 2nd grade next year. Our school district has no mandate nor funding for GT so pull-outs and subject acceleration do not exist, except to the extent a teacher will incorporate it into a classroom.

My first step is to get his teacher on board before I approach the principal. I am meeting with her tomorrow. Best outcome would be for her to say she absolutely agrees with us and we just make it happen. If she needs some convincing I have printed out some articles she could quickly read and then, if she so desired, I would give her my copy of "A Nation Deceived" or "Iowa Acceleration Scale", or "5 levels of Gifted". I would have to get a read on what she is willing to read, obviously.

She loves our DS and has easily accommodated his needs in her class. For example, when they do their math centers he is often allowed to do his EPGY. She has chapter books in the classroom for him to read and she really gets excited when the kids soar. What I'm not sure about, is whether or not she realizes she is the exception to the norm.

I was recently introduced to one other mom whose daughter skipped 1st grade at this school. She said the K teacher (a different one) was pushing for the skip and the principal was skeptical but finally agreed. So it has been done.

Any advice? or just wish me luck!

Do you have any above grade level testing information to help make the case? Do they give MAP tests or something like it? If the principal is skeptical that may help. Good luck!

Good luck, Eleanor05! Sounds like you have done lots of preparation already! Your DS is lucky to have a wonderful teacher. Hopefully she will not only agree with the skip, but also recommend a good 2nd grade teacher who is willing to work with you and your DS.

Mag

PS: Not sure if your school also requires the school counselor on board for the skip... but it might be worthwhile to find out.

good questions. We had the WPPSI done and he scored in the 99.7%, not DYS material, but definitely gifted. His teacher has his scores and before he entered Kindergarten he was given a battery of tests by a psychologist due to some other issues, and he was in the 99.9% on the Woodcock Johnson, so the school already is aware of him.

Good idea about the school counselor. The specialists at our school are only for the under performing students. No IEPs are given to students who meet academic standards, but I like this school for a variety of other reasons. There is a school I would like to apply to for 5th grade, so I need to make this work for a few more years.

That's really good news! I love the idea of asking the teacher to handpick the 2nd grade teacher. You might also consider asking the teacher to grab some 2nd grade level material from one of her teacher friends and start to develop a little 'portfolio' of 'what he can do' so that when you meet with the Principle, you have BOTH the testing AND actual work samples based on your particular school's expectations.

If the teacher isn't willing to do this, perhaps she could help you gather the materials and you could administer them at home, or you may be able to gther the materials yourself through the Mommy-Network. Someone has to have an older child who is currently in 2nd grade.

Or wander the school hallways and check out the work that is posted in the hallway bulletin boards. Our schools always have samples of the student's work in the hallways.

Best Wishes,
Grinity

For something she can "quickly read," give the Executive Summary of "A Nation Deceived" and a copy of the article, "What a Child Doesn't Learn." The other stuff might result in her eyes rolling into the back of her head.

Thank you for these links. This is the type of thing I was looking to give to her. I'll post with an update later today. Thanks to you all!

UPDATE
Had a 20 minute meeting with my DS5's teacher and overall it went pretty well. I mentioned the grade skip to 2nd grade for next fall and her first reaction was concern with the "social aspect" of it all, but she also shared my concerns that 1st grade could be way too slow for him. I briefly touched on the research I had read and asked her to keep an open mind and I told her about the Iowa Acceleration Scale. She was genuinely interested and I plan on getting the book to her tomorrow.

In the meantime, she is going to talk to the special services coordinator and the principal to talk about Christopher and see what is possible. I did hint to the fact that if this isn't an option we would be leaving the school. I live in Washington, DC and not more than 1 mile away is the fine state of VA that has mandated and funded G/T. Why haven't we moved there yet you ask? I ask myself the same question everyday! (We love the city.)

Thanks for all the support!

Glad it went well and thanks for the update. To me it's well worth waiting to see what they can do in order to avoid the hassle of a move.

I can't wait to hear how they respond. I have a similar "pre-meeting" where we are bringing up the subject of a 1 to 3 skip, so I am eager to see how yours unfolds. Good Luck!! Nan

Good for you! We are in the same boat as you only a few steps ahead. We sorta beat around the bush back in fall conferences to see how the teacher felt about accel. and we got the impression she wasn't versed about the research etc. so we decided to charge forward and met with the prinicipal directly and presented the reserach, the iowa accel. scale (which she wasn't familiar with. we are in a private school and it hasn't been done before, at least while she has been there and doubtfully before either.) We presented a porfolio and provided her with a copy and left the book for her to read (and beleieve it or not we got an answer before we left.) We too, dropped the bomb that we would be leaving if it was not an option but they were surprisingly really willing to work with us and excited about the opportunity to give this a whirl. We have had many many meetings with updates and planning and more and more testing (which i don't think is necessaryas we already have qualifying tests but.... they wanted and we requested above grade level testing to see where we stand) but they are following the IAS to a tee to set the groundwork for any future people that may come asking for the same for their child. they want to be prepared for those that ask and shouldn't really be. I informed them that research shows that they most likely won't have a flood of people asking but... knowing how some of the parents there are "entitled" so to say, SOME will surely unjustly be asking for the same. We presented it as, if many do and the child qualifies and really SHOULD and would benefit from it, then consider that a good problem! You don't want people leaving because they are too smart to be accomodated but you should be able to weed out those that don't meet the requirements too. Well, good luck to you!

By the way, they loved the Iowa Accel. scale so much (since it's totally research backed) that they ordered several copies for the school and have passed them around to those who should be most aware of it.

Wow bh14!!!! Applause all around!
Grinity

Thanks bh14. Your story is reassuring to me. Our school just let out for spring break and we agreed we would talk when break is over. I'm going to give her the IAS-3 Manual. My goal is to have a meeting with the principal within two weeks of returning from break. I will keep everyone posted. So far everything is positive.

Definitly sounds like you are off to a good start! Even if you only have ONE ally on your side to start... that's better than none! With the research backing it, you really can't go wrong. Be prepared to answer questions (I thought the IAS-3 was helpful for that though I did a ton on my own too. I also looked at our state dept. of education to see what their policies were. Being a private school, we don't really follow those but to show the state mandate on accel. policies was also helpful.) I really expecting long drawn out answer, but.... like I said, we've had 3 meetings already, after our initial proposal and plan to meet about every few weeks to make sure we are on path. You really picked a good time to do this because it leaves enough room to get the "required" things in before school is over for summer and bring the teachers on board before they are off for summer as well! Keep us posted and pat yourself on the back for being your child's best advocate . As the princ. told us.... with all of our research and pretty much laying it all for her and took away all the guess work, we have paved the way not only for our child but for so many in the future! Good for you! Charge forward

bh14, you should absolutely post on the "success stories" thread in the Thinking Big forum! Your story is the exact outcome I'm hoping to get from our school. I've just received (and already read) my copy of the IAS-3 and I plan to give it to the principal when spring break is over. I also have A Nation Deceived vols. I and II to give to them if they seem receptive. I'll post again when I have an update!

Thanks!

I referenced A nation decv'd in my propsal for the admin. as well. Even if they don't seem receptive, give it to them anyway. The more info. they are provided with, the better they will feel about making a choice. I went through the IAS and tabbed the sections and parts I found very important so I didn't just give a book and say "Here! Read this whole thing!" I had LOTS of tabs, but it worked out well that way.

Maybe when all is said and done I willpost in that forum too. LOL! I keep waiting for the big roadblock or something! In fact, we haven't told our child yet because we don't want her saying anything yet to other kids or what not. the admin. asked us to wait to tell our child too. DC knows all the testing was to figure out what we need to do to meet the academic needs. We have discussed it as a poss. as we needed to know what the response would be (as you know the IAS says if the child is against it.... don't move fwd.) We also had to ask about DC's thoughts on possibly going to another school if we couldn't get what was needed.

So.... once all is said and done and it is 100% official I will surely post there . I am SO AFRAID of something backfiring on us with the whole process for some reason. I just feel like everytime we meet there's something different. it's all been positive but, then we add this test and that test and what have you. UGH! No one ever said it's an easy process but again, since we are the guinea pigs, we have all the ground work to do with the school and are really helping them form the process with our input. I would say we are 99% there (have to officially fill out the IAS, though DH and I filled it out from the sample forms before we presented it to the admin. to make sure it was a good fit so there shouldn't be any issues there. We filled it out separately to see if we had similar scores and we did. So...
We have even had the whole "team" at the last meeting as the IAS recommends forming so... we are SO CLOSE to the home stretch! The testing should be all done (unless they throw something else at us, but I think we are set). She already has her spot secured in that grade as there are many classes with waiting lists and they reserved a slot for us so.... we have another meeting after spring break and see where we are at.

So... yes, we have been moving along nicely. Like I said, it's just me expecting a roadblock or something... I don't know. I am so pleased by our success thus far, don't get me wrong, but the fact that this is so new to everyone there, has me somewhat on pins and needles!